A Bug's Life
Just the sight of some creepy-crawly insects is enough to send most people running for bug spray, a magazine or anything else handy that could be used to bring a premature end to the bug’s already short life. But before you plug in the zapper for another season, take a minute to consider what our lives would be like without the benefits bugs provide.
Crops and homes would be overrun with weeds and plant-eating pests; we’d have no fruits, vegetables or other plants that rely on pollination; no silk pajamas to slip into at night or honey to roll around in (what, like we’re the only ones?) and we’d always have to mind the crap, because we’d be living in a world caked in dead, rotting trees and animal droppings and carcasses. Mmmm.
So this summer, be selective with your swats and sprays and spare the lives of some advantageous arthropods who are just trying to make your life a little better.
Ten years ago there were approximately 750,000 named insect species. Today, there are more than 1,000,000.
Bees
The tiny hairs that cover a bee’s body are specially designed to carry loads of pollen as they travel from plant to plant extracting nectar, making the bee nature’s number one pollinator. Approximately 90 percent of crops are dependent on insect pollination, and of these, bees are responsible for about 80 to 90 percent of this pollination.
Can’t resist: asters, clover, marigolds, sunf...
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